Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-04-15
PICK DAVIS MAGNETIC TABLE.
A Piece Of Furniture on which the
Oun.r Won Thousands.

WIZ
For ten years past there has Stood in
the corner Of the billiard room If the
principal hotel in this town a riCkcty old
card table. Its worthleSSncss caused it
10 remain in the place during the changes
of the llstcl's many proprlctorslIils. IL
was a round table covered with an old
gray army blanket. tackled to the edge
through a long strip Of leather. At
regular distances were four pieces of tin
clumsily nailed down for the players TO
Law their lighted cigars On. In late years
its four rldrly made legs were So shaky
that no one cared Ia t,eter his chips an
the table. and il was chiefly used by the
guests 10 throw their coats and hats on
when they went To their meals. For a
long time the present proprietor always
said when he locked at the table that he
..intcn,lcd To clear it out tomorrow and
Get a new one" but somehow this was
not done until lately; perhaps then only
hecaus. people bcgan 10 tear their coats
on the nails. and their imVromptu r.
marks on the subject tended la cumpli-
cate matters.
1t was after a double barrel explosion
Of tins kind the other day that the pro-
prictor told his bartender to cut the covcr
Oft the table and make kindling wood Of
the cusscd thing. The bartender whipped
out hi, wife and began To carve the
blanket. lie had just made n savage
slash aud had started a second when his
knife struck against something metallic.
He then ripped the cover off and found a
steel plate nine inches long AMI six
inches wide. which was set flush into the
table. The plate was abort a foot from
the edge AMI pierced with A dozen holes.
Every one wondered what il was for. and
an old tOwnSman remembered that the
table had been brought there from Nir.
ginia City wears ago, and presumed il
was used in the early days to play some
kind of crihlagc. When the table began
to he chopped up a light was thrown on
the character of the table; for underneath
the top. concealed on a little shelf b,
one of the legs, were a small battery,
coils Of wire and some complicated ma
chinery connected with M of the tn
plates. These were covered with rusl
and dust.
Then the old townSman woke up and
remembered seeing in days gone by u man
named Pick Davis win s.. 900 at dice or
that very table, from a cattle man, IN
about fifteen seconds, besides picking NJ
sundry thousands and hundreds at TlhcI
umes from those who were ganILincly in
clined. Two drinks also caused the old
townSmau to suddenly recullcct tia
Davi, came down To Muscel Slougl-m
Hartford vas called then-from Nirgini;
City with n big reputation as a ''dil
chucker, and the boys came in from fal
and neal TO buck him. Ii was said thai
Davis had won oven 800, 900 at dice IN
the mines. where he was called Lucky
Pick" As lie was not found out in In
| play h. is alive to-day, but he has change
his name and owns n big ranch in the Sai
joaquin valley. Soft is seen that one wa,
TO wealth and responsibility has laen 70
q ''sure thing man. in the discovery o
a magnetic outfit 10 do up people witt
dice. and not I o get caught because lIr -
IN his work single handed. -lIanfor,
Gal Cor. New York sun.